456 FLIGHT
DART-POWERED EXECUTIVE
AN AMERICAN STUDIES THE GRUMMAN GULFSTREAM
WITH nearly 100 Vickers Viscounts now in service withCapital, Northeast and Trans Canada Airlines, there areprobably few people along the Eastern coast of the United
States who have not yet had occasion to hear the characteristicsound of the Rolls-Royce Dart engine. Plying their trade between
Montreal and Miami, the airline Viscounts have made the whineof the Dart turbine a familiar—but by no means displeasing—
sound to millions of Americans. The residents of Bethpage, LongIsland, a small community some 27 miles east of New York City's
Times Square, also have been hearing Rolls turboprops in recentdays, but with a regularity far beyond that which could be
accounted for by any stray airliner. Emanating from nearbyGrumman Aircraft, the engine sounds they have been hearing
have been generated by the twin RDa.7 Darts installed on proto-types of an aeroplane called the Gulfstream.
Product of Grumman's main facility at Bethpage, the Gulf-stream is a pressurized 350 m.p.h. business aeroplane. Some
brief comments on the aircraft were published in Flight shortlyafter the first Gulfstream made its initial flight on August 14 last
year, but since that time much progress has been made in thedevelopment, test and production programmes. Three Gulf-
streams are now flying. Ten more are in various stages ofassembly, and it is expected that a total of 27 aircraft will be
completed by year's end.
That the Rolls-Royce organization will derive substantialrevenue from the export of so many Dart engines is, of course, of
very great interest to them and to Britain as a whole. And forthis reason alone a detailed review of the aircraft is warranted.
Another reason for examining the Gulfstream, however, is thatthe aeroplane has been viewed by some—albeit remotely—as a
prospective candidate for the DC-3 replacement market. It mayseem strange that the aircraft has been considered in this con-
nection, because the Gulfstream is invariably described as a "ten-place business aeroplane"; but this description does not reveal the
fact that the Gulfstream is a DC-3 size aeroplane which wasspecifically designed to replace the many executive DO3s now
in service with corporate fleets. Logically, an aircraft of this typewill draw some speculation as to its abilities to perform other
DC-3 missions.
Background. The Gulfstream was conceived in the daysfollowing the conclusion of the Korean War. Towards the end of
that campaign it had become apparent to U.S. airframe manu-facturers that an increasing proportion of subsequent defence
appropriations would be allocated to guided weapons. Expendi-tures for manned aircraft would accordingly be reduced as
missiles took over many roles formerly assigned to piloted
vehicles. Concurrently it appeared inevitable that electronics andother aircraft systems would require a greater share of the funds
spent on aircraft procurement. The net result of these conditionswas that the amount of money that a manufacturer could expect
to receive in the future from military airframe sales appeared tobe gradually diminishing. Faced with this prospect, the manu-
facturers turned to the civil market as a possible outlet for theirwealth of airframe manufacturing talents. The giants of the U.S.
aircraft industry made plans for that nation's first generation ofturbine airliners during this period. The free world subsequently
entered the "jet age" as a result of the conflicting missile v. air-craft demands for funds, and the resulting need to have "some-
thing in the shop."
Grumman, who had produced large numbers of aircraft for theNavy and Air Force during the war, also foresaw the need for
post-war diversification into the civil market. Many of theirF9F-series fighters had seen service in the Far East, but it was
clear that with the end of the war the F11F Tiger—successor tothe F9F—would not enjoy as lengthy a production run as its
predecessor. Some additional airframe work was needed to takeup the slack left by falling sales of fighter aircraft. A civil project
was thus sought to fill the gap until the company could effect thetransition to missiles and turn them out in substantial numbers.
To Grumman the civil market was not new. Beginning in1936, they had produced three models of amphibians which were
soon adapted for business and private transport. These were:the G-21 (JRF) Gray Goose, 345 of which were built; the
G-44 (J4F) Widgeon, 286 of which were constructed; and theG-73 Mallard. A total of 59 Mallards were assembled before
production was discontinued at the start of the Korean War.When these production figures are added to the 56 G-7 (JF)s,
the 260 G-15 (J2F) Ducks, and the several hundred G-64 (andJR2F, SA-16 and UF-1) Albatrosses, all amphibians turned out
exclusively for the armed forces, a claim can be made thatGrumman has manufactured more amphibians than any other
aircraft builder.
With this extensive background in water-based aircraft, it waslogical that some thought should have been given to producing
a new amphibian for the civil market. Some preliminary layoutswere made under the corporate designation of G-122 of a small
twin-engined amphibian, along the lines of the Goose/Widgeonseries. Informal surveys of the market for such an aircraft, how-
ever, indicated that prospects for substantial sales were none toopromising. The study was dropped.
Other design work of that period included a three-enginedmedium-range jet transport—the G-130—and an agricultural